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Published November 04, 2009

Letter - Throwing foxes into the hen house? chat

Alexandria Echo Press

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LL L.
Alexandria, MN     11/05/2009 3:47 PM

I'll bet not. Also would bet that none of them bothered to upgrade themselves once it was over and done with. We are hooked up the same as you are Lee but not all people want or can afford that. If they have a generator they can turn it on for a couple hours and draw water and re-cool the frig and freezer at least. My oil stove has a cooktop. Hm, come to think of it they probably couldn't get water because that is hooked up direct to the electric box and doesn't have a cord they can plug into the generator like the frig and freezer.

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Lee P.
11/05/2009 3:22 PM

I had my home retro-fitted for generator power. Electrician came in, put a disconnect breaker box so I would be disconnected from the local power company, wired a 220v outlet for my 5.5Kw wheeled generator to plug into and once up and running I simply throw the breaker switch to the "generator" position. Generator sits outside under an overhang and just chugs away providing me water, heat and lights. Didn't take the neighbors long to find out who had the running water, flushing toilet and heat!

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Casey O.
11/05/2009 2:33 PM

Nothing but fuel oil is needed for our back up heat source. We also could hook up a wood burner if it was needed. The one in our house requires electricity for the blower, but this other on doesn't. There is a generator in the barn that would just need a little bit of TLC if it were needed, but it wouldn't power too much. We do have an oil single burner cook top for heating a kettle, there's always the grill and we have oil lamps with plenty of oil for light.

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LL L.
Alexandria, MN     11/05/2009 2:19 PM

Oil furnace? does that have a thermostat that runs on electric? A fan? I have an oil stove that is manual and requires no electric. It has a 54 thousand btu output. Have a propane cookstove. Many people in the blizzard of the early 70's that were snowed in for a week only had their propane cookstoves to heat the kitchen to keep from freezing to death.

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Casey O.
11/05/2009 2:12 PM

I don't have a generator, but we do have a back up fuel oil furnace we could hook up if needed for heat. My freezers are outside so if it's cold out, I do have a little more time for keeping the food cold verses in the house.

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LL L.
Alexandria, MN     11/05/2009 2:00 PM

You need to invest in a generator if you haven't thought of doing that yet because the food in the freezer is only good if there is electricity and a person can't live without water! Do you have any backup for heat? Most people don't even think about the fact that the furnace doesn't work without lights.

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Casey O.
11/05/2009 1:50 PM

Yes, that is that winter. That was when I got my awakening to never let things run down and then go shopping because that winter, you couldn't get to the store very often. Even if they had plowed the road, my driveway may not have been driveable or, if I left, I might not get back because of the drifting.... The one thing I don't stock is water and I have a well too. Without electricity, I wouldn't have water. I do keep empty juice jugs on hand and when the electricty could go out, I do fill them along with ice cream pails for washing hands. If they aren't needed, I empty them into the washer and do laundry so I didn't waste water.

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C A P.
Alexandria, MN     11/05/2009 1:31 PM

That is the way I grew up LLL, yet you would never guess that by my freezer and shelves now!!! So full, there is hardly room for more. I hate shopping, so I always stock up on the sale items. The only thing we don't have is bottled water, yet we have our own well. We would be in trouble though during an extended power outage.

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LL L.
Alexandria, MN     11/05/2009 1:16 PM

When people are sick they don't eat much but they do need food and a bunch of liquid.. I have canned and frozen fruits along with juices. Some things I don't even think about because I can't even imagine being without bleach, soaps, alcohol, thermometers and most things needed for sick people. I remember that winter. Isn't that the one where the snow was over the rooftops in many places? Unfortunately, I think that most people have very little food on hand. The days of the big pantries and root cellars are long gone. Most people work in town somewhere and go by the grocery store every time they need something. From what I have seen in peoples houses they wouldn't last a week before there was nothing left.

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Casey O.
11/05/2009 12:55 PM

LL, you are right, I am one of the ones that is a "stocker" of items. It isn't because of the flu, it started the winter of 96/97 when we had storm after storm and if it wasn't snowing, it blew so much that it drifted like it was snowing. My last shopping trip, I stocked up on canned chicken soups and 7 up, but forgot the jello, but I do have freezer pops. I already had stocked disinfectants, cold medicines, and fever reducers. The tough part is fresh foods. You can't stock them, but I guess in a bind, you could go without as long as you have the shelf and freezer food. A store has one to two week supply on hand and if their supply gets disrupted, so does yours. It's not good to leave things to the last minute. Most Minnesotans keep an emergency kit in their cars and they should also keep one in their house for illness purposes.

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